Kundalini.Tantra.by.Satyananda.Saraswati

Chapter 3
Chakra Sadhana Course
Month by month we have given specific practices for the awakening of each chakra,
one after the other. These practices must be adopted systematically. For the first month
you should only perform the techniques for ajna chakra. Then in the second month, add
those for mooladhara. In the third month add those for swadhisthana. In the fourth month
do those practices for manipura and selected practices for ajna, mooladhara and
swadhisthana chakras. (By this stage, due to the number of practices, it will be necessary
to omit some.) In this way, you should continue, adding the practices for each chakra,
until you reach bindu visarga during the seventh month.
The first month is concerned with awakening ajna chakra and not the lowest one,
mooladhara, which is treated in the second month. It may seem more logical and
consistent to start with mooladhara practices, but it is a rule of kundalini yoga that first
there should be awakening of ajna chakra before the other chakras. Unless this is
achieved, then the awakening of the lower chakras may rock the stability of the
practitioner; he may experience physical, mental and emotional shocks which he cannot
bear. The awakening of ajna chakra brings a great degree of detachment, which allows
one to withstand the lower chakra awakenings without excessive shock. One is able to
observe chakra experiences with the attitude of a witness. This is most essential in
kundalini yoga.
In the eighth month we have given some practices which influence the chakras as a
whole. These should also be done for one month.
Please note that some practices influence more than one chakra, but we have only
given each practice once as sadhana for the chakra it is most likely to affect. Also, it
should be noted that nothing can be gained by randomly selecting one chakra sadhana
program and just practising it for a day or two and then commencing another program. As
each practice is a stepping-stone for another practice, the techniques should be performed
systematically.
In each chapter, practices are given to locate the position of the chakra, and its
counterpart, the kshetram (which is located in the front of the body). It is important that
you can locate these points exactly.
All the practices given for the specific chakras are the building blocks from which the
techniques of kriya yoga are constructed. As such, you should perfect them before
proceeding to the kriyas. Ultimately, you will only need to practise the kriyas, but prior to
this you must be prepared to devote at least one hour a day to the chakra practices for the
next eight months.